Dean was a Category 5 storm with wind gusts of 200 mph when it hit the Yucatan Peninsula early Tuesday, the third-most-powerful Atlantic hurricane at landfall, ranking behind the Florida Keys' 1935 Labor Day hurricane and Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.

Despite its intensity, no storm-associated deaths were reported in the Yucatan, a Palm Beach (Fla.) Post correspondent reported.

However, Dean was blamed for at least 13 deaths in Dominica, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique and St. Lucia.